There are many establishments which specialize in the rental of equipment such as vacuum cleaners, power tools, plumbing tools, floor sanders, polishers and the like. Such equipment is usually rented for use for a specified period of time for which a rental fee is paid for by the rentor of the equipment. Thus, if one wishes to rent a given piece of equipment for a specified period of time, the rental agency can, by employment of a key for the timer, set the rented equipment to operate for a given period of time and upon expiration of the set period of time, the equipment ceases to operate.
In the past, some attempts have been made to limit the amount of time for operation of a rented piece of equipment. Rental agencies have used a coin box associated with the rented equipment whereupon the rentor of the equipment places a coin in the coin box to thus permit the equipment to operate for a given period of time depending on the amount of coins deposited in the coin box. While such an arrangement will permit the rented equipment to continue operating for a desired period of time, such an arrangement is not considered efficient for a number of reasons. One such reason being that one may pilfer the coin box and thus deprive the owner of the equipment of the monies due for the rental. Another reason is that the person renting the equipment may not have the required denomination of coins to permit for the continued operation of the rented equipment.
With the above in mind, it is one object of the invention to provide a means whereby the rental agency for the equipment will be assured of proper payment for the time the equipment is rented.
Another object of this invention is to provide the rental agency with a proper key which will enable the agency to set the time of operation of the rented equipment and upon expiration of the time for which the equipment has been rented the timer must again be set by the agency to permit continued operation of the equipment.
Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the reading of the hereinbelow description; the invention consisting in the novel running-time meter and the novel features of operation, combination, construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing.